DIY Minnie Mouse Ears Headband

Creative Minnie Mouse Ears headbands are all the rage and in style when visiting the Disney Parks. Wearing a custom pair of ears unique to you is a way you can stand out from the crowd of people around you. It’s also a fun addition to your Disney bounds or specially planned outfits that you took such great care in picking out in the months leading up to your trip to the Happiest Place On Earth.

I started making Minnie Mouse Ears at the end of 2017 to sell in my Etsy shop, The Pixie Dusted Mouse. I have so much fun deciding on a theme and design that you can’t find anywhere else! I know that I’m not the only one with good ideas, so I wanted to share with you my tutorial in how I make my Minnie Mouse Ears so you can get your creative juices flowing!

Of course, if you aren’t craftily inclined, or you just want a pair of my Minnie Mouse Ears that I’ve made, you’re more than welcome to check out my shop for yourself and I’d be happy to make you a pair!

If you’re ready to dive into making your own, here’s my tutorial! But don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter to get the FREE template used in this tutorial and my email list then follow along for the ride!

The first step is to take the inner ear template and use a marking pen or pencil (I prefer to use a pencil for the foam and batting) and mark your foam and batting. You’ll need to have 4 “ears” of batting and 2 “ears” of foam.

Once you’ve gotten those marked, use scissors to cut the ears out of the batting and the Xacto knife to cut out the foam parts. Make sure to cut on top of a cutting mat so you don’t wreck your work surface!

Set those pieces aside.

Grab your ear fabric and fold in half, the wrong side out. Grab the Ear Template and mark the fabric using the fabric marking pen.

Before cutting the fabric, grab the Sewing Guide Template to mark where you’ll sew the two sides together. You don’t need to use the Sewing Guide, but I found that it helps to get an even curve for the ear when sewing. But if you decide to use the Sewing Guide, align the bottom of the Guide with the bottom of the markings from the Ear template, making sure to have even space on each side.

Once you’ve got the marking done, cut the fabric for both pairs of ears out so you have 4 pieces all together.

You can choose to pin the fabric pieces together for cutting out and sewing, but I don’t like to unless my fabric is really slippery.

Grab your Ruler and bow fabric. Fold the bow fabric in half and measure 6″ by 8″ (so you then get 12″ by 8″ after cutting it out). You can also just measure 12″ by 8″ if you would rather do that. You’ll also want to cut out a piece that’s 5-6″ by 2″. I ended up measuring on the fold so I ended up with a piece that was 12″ by 2″, so I cut that in half to get the correct size of fabric needed.

Grab all your fabric pieces and your Sewing Machine. First sew the ears with the right sides together, wrong sides out, along the sewing guides.

Take the 6″ by 2″ piece and fold it in half long ways so that it becomes a 6″ by 1″ piece and sew along the long side. I sew about 1/4″ seam allowance.

I then take the bigger bow piece and fold it in half so it becomes 12″ by 4″ and sew along the long side so I make a tube. Once sewn together, I flip the tube so it is right side out. I flatten the tube so that the seam is in the middle and fold it so the raw edges come together and the seam is on the outside (see picture below to better illustrate).

Sew the raw edges together.

Get your glue gun out and when it’s heated up, get the Inner Ear pieces ready (4 batting pieces and 2 foam pieces). Use the glue gun to add glue on one side of a foam piece. I like to put a strip around the whole ear then some in the middle. Then get a piece of batting and match it up and press down all around where you put glue. The batting should be thick enough that you don’t burn yourself.

Repeat so that each side of both foam pieces are covered in the batting.

Next, grab your pair of scissors and trim the seams of the Ear pieces and the Bow pieces.

After, turn all fabric pieces so the right sides are out. For the main part of the bow, make sure the seam is in the middle of the back of the bow.

If you’re using the safety pin, pin from the outside in so that you can then push it down through the small tube to have it turn right side out.

If you use the fabric/loop turner, insert the turner through the tube and grab onto one side of the top with the little hook at the end. Pull down, making sure it catches the fabric and pull the fabric through.

This is seriously one of my favorite tools and I’m sad I lost it in our move, but if you have one, use it! If not, get one! It’s seriously a game changer!

Next, grab one of the Inner Ear pieces to get ready to insert into an Ear piece. I find it helps to fold the Inner Piece so that it kind of looks like a burrito or a rolled tongue (that’s what it reminds me most of!)

Insert the rolled Inner Ear Piece into the Ear Piece and let go so that it unrolls itself. Adjust the fabric of the Ear piece so that the whole of the Inner Ear piece is covered. It may take a bit of tugging, but that’s okay! Just make sure you’re not tugging too hard, especially if your fabric is more delicate.

Once both Inner Ear Pieces are nestled inside the fabric of the Ear Pieces, get your hot glue gun again and glue the bottoms of the fabric to the Inner Ear Pieces. You may not be able to cover/fold the fabric over the bottom, but that’s okay, it’s mostly important that the fabric is connected to the Inner Ear Piece so they don’t come apart from each other.

You especially want to be careful as you do this because this is where you’re fingers are most vulnerable to the hot glue, so make sure you’re touching the fabric as much as possible!

Let the ears sit while you make your bow.

You’ll want to fold your bow in half lengthwise then fold on either side of that middle fold like an accordion. I’ve added an illustration so you can see what it should look like. The back of the bow (where the seam is from before) should look like the bottom of the bow and the front of the bow should have the middle “peak” with two on either side.

Pinch the bow in the middle and hold it together while you use the hot glue gun to add a dab of glue in each of the “valleys” in the center of the bow between where you have it pinched. I do this because it helps to keep the bow together while gluing the middle of the bow on.

The next step is to take the small tube for the middle of the bow and flatten it out, making sure the seam runs down the middle of the back, just like you did for the main part of the bow.

Use the hot glue gun to add a few dabs of glue to one side of the bow, making sure it’s centered and have the front side of the bow facing your palm. Put the edge of one side of the middle strip down on the glue so it makes a sort of tail on the bow with the tail coming out of the back of the bow.

The picture above shows the orientation as best as I could show it. Wrap the strip around the bow, first cover the back, then the front, to form the middle. I typically end up wrapping it twice so it’s got a good hold on the main part of the bow, ending back where I started gluing the piece on so it has a tiny bit of tail going towards the back again.

I glue the piece down to the bow then trim it with scissors. I then put a dab of glue inside the tube piece and glue that down so it’s nice and closed.

Now you’ve got your ears and bow ready to be glued onto the headband!

Get your ruler again and measure 3″ from the edge of the headband and mark with a pencil. This is going to be where the bottom of the Ear piece will go. Repeat on the other side.

Take one of the Ear pieces and add hot glue along the bottom where it curves inward. Align one of the corners of the Ear piece with your marking on the headband and press down, holding for a few seconds to allow the ear and the headband to bond together with the hot glue.

I will next typically add some more glue along the edges between the Ear and the headband in order to make them stronger. I find it doesn’t cause the ears to look weird in photos, but if you’d rather, you can add some decorative ribbon or string of beads around that extra strip of glue for added decoration.

Repeat the same for the other side with the other Ear.

Lastly, grab the bow and add glue to the bottom (where the edge of the middle bow piece shows). Get the headband and stick the bow on, making sure it’s centered. If you want to be extra careful, you can add a center marking before gluing the bow on.

Pinch the bow and the headband for a few seconds to allow them to bond together.

Say Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo and your ears are done!

Making these Minnie Mouse Ears Headband is so much fun and not as intimidating as you’d think, especially if you follow this tutorial! You can get as creative as you want to and make them for yourself and your family and friends!

And now that you’ve gotten your ears, make sure you book your next trip so you can show them off! I recommend going through Get Away Today and you can use my code TwoGeeks to get an extra $10 off your Southern California vacation!

Please be sure to share your creations with me by tagging us on Instagram or on Facebook and be sure to leave us a comment below about the inspiration you’d like to use when designing your own pair of ears!

And don’t forget to sign up to get the FREE template I made to use for making these ears yourself!

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Hi I'm Jessica! I'm a mother, wife, gamer, cosplayer, and all around fangirl. I love being a Geek Mom because I get to share many worlds with my daughter. Check out my about page to learn more about us!